1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand-held labelers and more particularly to a hand-held labeler comprising a casing with an upper opening, a holder for rotary mounting a label roll that is at least partially positioned within the upper opening, a cap that surrounds and is spaced from at least an upper perimeter of a label roll inserted into the upper opening, and a lifting mechanism for moving the holder up and down.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional hand-held labeler is used to print prices or other information onto labels that are provided on a carrier tape and to subsequently attach the printed labels to goods. Such a labeler is known from EP 0 858 950 B1. The carrier tape with the labels is wound to a label roll that can be rotary mounted in the holder and at least partially sunk into the upper opening of the casing. The holder consists of a pair of articulated arms, one end of which is coupled to the opening of the case and the other to a so-called “loading cassette.” The loading cassette comprises a cap with a semicircular cross section and a side wall with a hub mounted to its center. The side of the loading cassette opposite the side wall and the remaining peripheral area of the semicircular cap are open.
When the label roll is placed onto the hub, half of its perimeter and one of its faces are surrounded by the cap. The other half of its perimeter and the other face of the label roll are exposed. The articulated arms comprise a gearing at their lower ends. If the label roll is to be sunk into the opening in the casing, the loading cassette is grabbed with the hand on the cap and pressed downwards. The intermeshing gearings of the articulated arms make the arms perform the same movements, and they are folded more and more in their middle until the loading cassette of the label roll is sunk in far enough that the lower rims of its cap come to rest on the casing near the opening. When the labeler is operated, the label roll is not guided on the open side of the loading cassette so that the carrier tape unwound from the label roll can move outwards and its motion can be obstructed by the casing. A loading cassette that is open on one side also does not ensure that the label tape will remain wound up evenly, i.e., without an axial offset of successive windings. And finally it is difficult to remove the label roll from the loading cassette due to the small spacing between the cap and the label roll.
The only guidance available for the label roll in the loading cassette is provided by the side wall of the loading cassette. If the label roll is to be removed from the device, the loading cassette is grabbed at the cap and manually pulled upwards. When the loading cassette has been lifted far enough that the label roll has been freed from the casing, it can be pulled off the hub.
A hand-held labeler is known from EP 1 308 408 B1 that comprises a cap that is rotary mounted in the casing and prevents the label roll from being removed from its holder. If the label roll is to be removed, the cap has to be flipped open first. Then the label roll can be lifted off by hand, and this or a new label roll can be pressed into the holder until it snaps into position. Then the cap is closed again. While the label roll is guided better in this known labeler than in the labeler described previously, removing and inserting the label roll is still tedious because, when the cap is opened, there are spring plates on both sides of the holder which have to be deflected outwards so that they release the label roll. If the labeler is then reversed, the label roll and the roll core that carried the label tape will fall out due to their own weight. In this way, the label roll or the roll core can be removed from the label roll holding space without having to be touched directly. This process is still tedious because one first has to open the cap and unlock the locking elements to be able to remove the label roll.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.